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MISS COLUMBIA'S 

Public School; 




WILL IT BLOW OVER? 

BY A. COSMOPOLITAN. 



WITH 72 ILLUSTRATIONS BY 



" It is only a matter of time." — Father Hecker. 

" The American idea must give way, a.nd with it whatever contradicts or does not 
accord with the CathoUc idea." — The Tablet. 



fcfo fflrli : 

JEHR^IsrCIS B. FELT &; CO 

ISVl. 



■ 'P97 



Entered, according to net of Congress, in the j'ear one thousand eight hundred and 

seventy-one, hy 

FRANCIS B. FELT & CO., 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 




>- t^e-Fr 



THEIR AIM. 



MISS COLUMBIA'S SCHOOL. 




ISS COLUMBIA 

kept a large public 
school, which included 
every possible descri])tion of boy. All colors were rep- 
resented, all nationalities, all classes, and all sects. 

It was, as may be imagined, a somewhat difficult task 
to preserve harmony among so many scholars of differ- 
ent characteristics, but as long as there was fair play 
all round, and partiality shown to none. Miss Colum- 
bia managed to sustain her own institution firmly in 
its original principles. 



8 MISS COLUMBIA'S PUBLIC SCHOOL; 



The foundation of our Republic. 

The original plan of the school was to allow all the 
scholars the most perfect freedom, and to submit to them 
for approval the rules by which they should be managed ; 
thus making their government the will of the scholars. 

As long as the majority of the boys were patriotic, 
orderly, honest, and had the interest and honor of 
the school at heart, this plan would work well ; but 
as soon as corruption, treachery, dishonesty, and par- 
tialitv crept in, a school conducted upon such principles 
would be shaken to its very foundations, and, perhaps, 
ultimately ruined. 

There had been many little tiffs in this school, as 
in every other, but none of a serious character, until 



OR, WILL IT BLOW OVER? 



9 




THE FIRST LESSONS. 



10 



MISS COLUMBIA'S PUBLIC SCHOOL 



a great " unpleasantness " arose between a [NTorthem 
and a Southern boy, about a little colored boy, whom 
the Southern boy claimed as his property — a claim 
entirely inconsistent with the fundamental principle 
on which the school was based, viz., that all the 
scholars were born free and equal. 

This disagreement about the colored boy had been 
a threatening cloud from the time the school was first 
organized ; but it was thought that, if left to time, it 
would pass away of itself. 




"• Take him, if you dare.' 



Instead of that, however, it grew and grew, and at 
length assumed such vast proportions that a line had 
to be drawn across the grounds, where the claims of 



OR, WILL IT BLOW OVER? 



11 



the Southern boy could, or could not, be recognized. 
The disputes growing out of this distinction so em- 
bittered the feelings of the Northern and Southern 
boys against each other, that at last their smoldering 




Terrible blows. 



passions broke out into terrible blows — such blows 
that Miss Columbia herself was astonished at their 
strength; and all Dame Europa's school lifted up 




Our neutral friends. 



12 



MISS COLUMBIA'S PUBLIC SCHOOL; 



their hands in virtuous horror, and exclaimed, " Can 
such things be?" 

Our little cousin, Johnny Bull, was especially pleased 
at the big fight, and kept saying to all the boys in 
Dame Europa's school, " Didn't I told you so ?" 

He jumped for joy when the fight began, and 
would have turned a regular somersault, had he not 
bethought himself that his island was small, and he 
might roll over into the water. 




Neutral John. 



He saw a good opportunity for lengthening out the 
fight, and turning a penny at the same time, by sup- 
plying the little Southern boy with implements of 
warfare. 




The invasion of Mexico. 



OR, WILL IT BLOW OVER? 



13 



Then there was little Johnny Crapeau, too, who 
thought he, also, might take advantage of the scrim- 
mage to help himself to some of Miss Columbia's 
grounds, and extend the sway of the '' Latin race." 
So, in order to be ready at the right moment, he imported 
some French frogs into Mexican territory, just south of 
the school. But that ruse proved a failure ; most of the 
frogs died, or were squelched out ; their leader was shot, 
and the rest were forced to return to Johnny Cra- 
peau all the worse for the wear. 

Meantime the fighting continued so fiercely in Miss 
Columbia's school as to sometimes endanger the life of 
Miss Columbia herself; but the loyal ISTorthern boys 
always proved strong enough to protect her person. 

The combat was protracted and bloody, and there 
was no lack of courage on either side ; but, finally, 
at the end of the fourth round, the Southern boy 




" Shake hands. 



threw up the sponge; and the result was that the 
colored boy had rights which the white boy was bound 
to respect. 



14 MISS COLUMBIA'S PUBLIC SCHOOL; 

But Miss Columbia's duties now became more com- 
plicated than ever ; for the bitter feeling engendered 
by the late contest frequently exbibited itself, and was 
hard to control, as is always the case in every school 
after a rumpus. 

There were here, as elsewhere, plenty of mean-spirited 
little boys who, for malicious purposes of their own, 
did their best to keep up the remembrance of the 
fight and renew the disturbance. 

It seemed best to Miss Columbia, as a punishment 
to the Southern boy for his past misconduct, to put 
him on his good behavior for the time being, by de- 
priving him of any voice whatever in school matters — 
a privilege which she now bestowed upon the colored 
boy. This plan she thought would have a salutary 
effect upon the Southern boy, and bring him to a re- 
alizing sense of his past injustice ; but, on the con- 
trary, it seemed to irritate him all the more. To be- 
hold his former chattel elevated to authority over him 
was more than his haughty spirit could tolerate. It also 
made him very sulky to see a portion of the Northern 
boys, who had lately been fighting him, come and 
plant themselves upon his own section, and try to 
manipulate the colored boy with a single eye to their 
own interests. 

This unsettled state of things troubled Miss Colum- 
bia exceedingly, and she began to feel that it was 



OR, WILL IT BLOW OVER? 



15 



time to adopt a different course, as matters kept 
growing worse instead of better. She thought that re- 
storing the Southern boy to his former power in the 
school might have the desired effect, and bring about 
the much-needed reconciliation. She was all the more 
desirous of effecting a perfect union, in order to gain 
strength against a common enemy, whose underhand 
influence, she had begun to discover, was undermining 
her great public school. 

So one day, when the boys were all assembled, she 
propounded her views to them, and waited to hear 
theirs. 







Miss Columbia's appeal. 

" Now, dear boys," she began, " I want the earnest 



16 MISS COLUMBIA'S PUBLIC SCHOOL; 

attention of all of you. The constant disagreements 
among you have for some time past occasioned me great 
pain and anxiety ; and I feel sure that, if such a state 
of things continues, the prosperity and progress of the 
school will be seriously retarded. Now, what do you 
say to giving our little Southerner his former voice in 
all school matters ? Let us bury the hatchet forever, 
and let by-gones be by-gones. His fault was a very 
serious one, and he has received a severe punishment; 
but we are protected from any repetition of his past 
folly by the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments of 
our rules, which have been written down in letters of 
blood, and can never be wiped out ; and woe be to 
him who ever makes the rash attempt !" 

Discordant sounds greeted these remarks ; and it 
was evident that they were not received with unani- 
mous approval by the boys. 

The head boy, who, during the fray, had been in 
the very thickest of it, seemed the most willing to 
adopt Miss Columbia's proposition ; but, seeing the 
evident dissatisfaction around him, and having no more 
voice than any of the other boys in the school rules, 
he remained passive in his seat, although the words, 
" Let us have peace," seemed to escape his lips invol- 
untarily. 

It was noticed that the boys who had kept their 
own skins the soundest, and were farthest from the 



OR, WILL IT BLOW OVER? 



17 




Let us have peace. 



place where the blows were struck, were loudest in 
their objections — particularly some who had gained for 
themselves a reputation as reformers. They had kept 
themselves prominently before the school for years, and 
were among the first to agitate the doctrine of equal 
rights to all colors ; and as long as the cause for it 
existed, no mortal could deny their sincerity or their 
ability as its champions. 

But that fatal love of notoriety which seems to get 
the best of all our prominent small boys, and is, 
perhaps, a limit set by Providence to human import- 
ance, in due time overtook our reformers. Since the 
colored boy had been granted his just rights, they 



18 



MISS COLUMBIA'S PUBLIC SCHOOL; 




^^5^^ 



THE CHAIRMAN OF THE HANGING COMMITTEE, 



OR, WILL IT BLOW OVER? 19 

tried to stir up other agitations, such as the doctrine 
of baby-suffrage, etc. But as boys are always awk- 
ward in handling babies, they never seemed to get the 
hang of their new hobby, and it didn't '' take " among 
the school as the old one did; therefore, they were 
only too ready, when the least occasion presented itself, 
to go back to the old hobby, at which they had won 
their early laurels. 

Finally, the general dissatisfaction found voice, and 
a IS^orthern boy rose and said, "But look here. Miss 
Columbia, that is all very nice about joining hands, 
and forgetting the past; but how about these sneak- 
ing little skunks that call themselves the K. K. K.'s, 
who pommel our boys, both white and colored, when- 
ever they get a chance? "We can't submit to that, 
and they don't deserve that we should ; no, ma'am !" 

And a chorus of voices broke in here, saying, 

" 'No ; they deserve hanging better !" 

One voice, louder than the rest, was heard to say, 

"Yes, yes, let's be afther hanging the nagur^ by all 
manes." 

This voice emanated from a boy who had been uncom- 
monly active during a certain July scrimmage, still fresh 
in the recollection of the whole school. 

He was the most turbulent and unruly boy in the school, 
and never understood any subject intelligently ; but when- 
ever personal violence was threatened, he was there. 



20 



MISS COLUMBIA'S PUBLIC SCHOOL; 



The uproar culminated liere, and Miss Columbia called 
out, " Silence !" several times before order was restored. It 
took her longer than most school-mistresses to enforce her 
commands, as each boy was impressed with a deep sense of 
his own importance and responsibility in the affairs of 
government, and each considered himself supreme ruler. 




Calling the school to order. 

" Tut, tut, for shame !" she said ; "just consider what an 
expense you would be at for rope, if you were to try and 
hang all the corrupt law-breakers and treacherous law- 
makers among you Northern boys ! But hanging is not 
to the point ; the rope's end will not be the end of our 
troubles, and you cannot be too dainty ; for we see plenty 
of outrages among the Tammany tribe of Indians over 
there, but who ever hears of hanging the wrong-doers ? 

" ' Let us have peace ! ' as our head boy says, and let us 
show malice to none and charity to all. It is true that 



OR, WILL IT BLOW OVER? 



21 



K. K. K.'s exist, in defiance of all the rules of the school, 
but my hope is that, with a better mutual understanding, 
these things will die out of their own accord. Our South- 
ern boy will soon see that the course he is now pursuing 
injures himself more than anybody else, and deters many 
a well-meaning and energetic Northern boy from settling 
as his neighbor, and making his naturally attractive side 
of the school-grounds the most charming place in the 
world. Some of the boys who already represent you there 
are not angels by any means, and have aggravated the 
Southerner's sense of wrong by trying to get the best of 
him, and squeezing more almighty dollars out of him 
than they can out of the rest of you, since you are a match 
for each other on your own grounds — that fondly wor- 
shiped dollar before which you all bow." 




Put that in your pipe and smoke it. 



22 



MISS COLUMBIA'S PUBLIC SCHOOL; 



The bojs did not quite relish these remarks. If Miss Co 
lumbia had taken handfuls of their golden idol, and thrown 
it at them and hit them in the face ever so hard, they would 
have scrambled for it eagerly. But to be thus insulted 
gratuitously with the shadow and not the substance made 
them wince uneasily. Miss Columbia here resumed : " You 
have all got to live together ; so let these constant bickerings 
cease. I love our little Southern sclfolar just as dearly as I do 
any of the rest of you, and have his interests and his advance- 
ment just as much at heart, and I long to see harmony re- 
stored between you brothers, for he is your own brother, 
though he has sinned in the past. How does a wise mother 
act toward an erring son ? After administering what 
she considers a proper punishment, does she keep on prob- 




Bind up his wounds." 



OR, WILL IT BLOW OVER? 



23 



ing his wounds by constant reminders of his past faults? 
E"o! justice once rendered, she makes haste to heal 
the scar by all the soothing arts she knows of, and 
finds the lesson none the less salutary on that account. 
Now boys will be boys, whether in school or at home, 
and why will not the same principles work here, if you only 
try to carry them out ? You were the victors ; therefore it 

becomes you to be 

magnanimous, and 

so let us bury the 

hatchet. 

'^ Other boys, too, 
feel that it is well to 
hold out the olive- 
branch sometimes; 
for instance, see 
your cousin Johnny 
Bull, who has taken 
the initiative, and 
come all the way 
across the- water to 
settle the dispute 
between you, in the 
most manly and 
straightforward 
manner — an act 





v5< -" 

The High Joints 

which redounds to his infinite credit and honor. He does 



Commission. 



24 MISS COLUMBIA'S PUBLIC SCHOOL; , 

not feel that his dignity is compromised in the smallest de- 
gree, nor would yours be by making similar overtures. 

" Then, too, my dear boys, I fear that in hardening your- 
selves toward your Southern brother, and teaching your- 
selves to ignore his fraternal claims upon you, your own 
characters have sadly deteriorated, your moral senses are 
becoming blunted, your integrity, your honor and pride in 
the school have given way before a selfish and eager 
desire for the rapid advancement of individual interests. 
Heretofore it has always been a credit to a boy to say 
that he was brought up in my school ; but if these injurious 
habits continue to gain upon you, it will soon be a disgrace. 
Each boy must feel that all must sacrifice something for 
the sake of the general good. 

" I want to recall to your memory that fable of ^sop's, 
familiar to you all, where a man carries two bags, one be- 
fore him and one behind him. The one in front of him is 
marked, ^ Other people's faults, ' and the one behind him 
is ' his own ' faults. Of course the one in front of him 
is constantly before his eyes, but he never sees the one 
behind. 

" Apply this to your case. Just mark the bag in front of 
you ' South,' and the one behind you ^ North,' and I want 
you to take the time to examine more carefully the one 
behind you than you have been in the habit of doing. It is 
now time for recess. Go, then, and think the matter over 
at your leisure, and as soon as you feel that you have made 



OR, WILL IT BLOW OVER? 



25 



$ome discoveries, and found out some of your own sins, 
come to me for further advice." 

The bell then rang and school adjourned, the boys separa- 
ting, and each following his own inclination. Some, giv- 
ing no heed to Miss Columbia's words, went to play, and 
thought no more of the subject under discussion; others 
went straight to their workshops, as they never lost a 
minute or an opportunity of coining dollars, while a few 
took their teacher's injunction to heart, and did really try 
to ponder out the problem before them. 

That night the l^orthern boy did not sleep as tranquilly 
as usual, and when at length he 'fell into a troubled doze, 
after tossing about uneasily for hours, he was visited by 
dreams of evil omen. 




Look out for the Locomotive ! 



26 



MISS COLUMBIA'S PUBLIC SCHOOL; 



He dreamed of St. Peter's at Rome, which, he thought, 
instead of being a sacred edifice, was merely a large politi- 
cal machine in the form of a locomotive, and had as head 
engineer an old man wearing a huge helmet-shaped hat, 
on which was inscribed, " The infallible one." He had 
always thought that institution belonged to Dame Europa's 
school, but there he saw that many of the tracks had been 




Disunitinof Church and State. 



torn up, and the huge machine did not run smoothly any 
more ; and what was his horror and consternation at seeing 
these replaced by many new tracks, just put down, which 
ran right through Miss Columbia's grounds and intersected 
them in every direction ! Some of these tracks he remem- 



OR, WILL IT BLOW OVER? 



27 



bered having seen before, but what now astonished him 
was the immense increase in their number, the firm and 
secure manner in which they were riveted to the earth, and 
the enormous extent of ground they covered. There were 
miles and miles of them ; in fact, the country was grid- 
ironed with them. 




^^X^^ 



He wondered how the right to possess the ground had 
ever been placed in the power of the vast machine. He 
saw, employed upon the tracks, Pat, the Irish boy, who al- 
ways did that kind of work, but he now perceived that his 
overseer appeared to be a Jesuit whom he had often noticed 
prowling around the school of late, and he appeared to 
draw his grants of land and his supplies of money from 



28 



MISS COLUMBIA'S PUBLIC SCHOOL; 




THE CAT'S-PAW. 



OR, WILL IT BLOW OVER? 



29 



a certain office which had a " Big Six " on the door, and 
was situated in the largest and most important depot. 

He recognized among the most prominent officials in this 
depot the faces of many boys which were familiar to him 
every day in school. The Jesuit seemed to be holding out 
to them, in return for the money and the land, the promise 
of the Irish boy's influence and voice in the school, that it 
should always be in favor of these corrupt officials, and that 
he would do his best to retain them in authority continually. 
They had a large portion of the school under their influence 
already, but nothing less than the whole of it would satis- 
fy their ambition. Then he dreamt that the infallible 
engineer took entire charge of the school, and established 




In Miss Columbia's chair. 



30 



MISS COLUMBIA'S PUBLIC SCHOOL-, 



himself in Miss Columbia's cliair. Turning in loatliing 
from such rule, he tries to find the Bible bequeathed to him 
by his Puritan father, and search in its pages for comfort ; 
but lo ! the form of the infallible one seems to en- 
velop it with a pall of darkness ; he cannot see the page 




g'A^y^- 



Burning the Bible. 



before him ; in vain he struggles to retain his grasp of it, 
but it has been wrenched from him ; it is gone ! 

At this, he awoke and gave a sigh of relief as he thought 
to himself that it was only a nightmare vision. 

But the dream continued to haunt him, and it was with 
a kind of terror and misgiving that he repaired to his seat 
in the school-room at the usual time. 



OE, WILL IT BLOW OVER? 



33 




*' 'Twas but a dream." 



In opening the school Miss Columbia took up the Bible, 
to read some selections, according to her invariable custom, 
but as she turned its pages, a dark frown was visible on her 
face, which, somehow, struck a chill to the heart of our 
dreamer. She read on, however, without interruption ; but 
when she had finished, she turned toward the boys, as she 
closed the book, and said : 

" Some one has been tampering with my Bible again, 
and left his dirty finger-marks upon it. This thing has 
happened before, but I refrained from saying anything 
about it, and now I don't want it to happen again, or I shall 
speak plainer. I know well enough which of you boys it 



82 



MISS COLUMBIA'S PUBLIC SCHOOL; 




c^^^ •"lllllil 

TAMPERING WITH THE BIBLE. 



OR, WILL IT BLOW OVER? 



33 



is, and I fear that I have been too lenient and indulgent to 
him hitherto, and that he thinks to take 'the very meanest 
advantage of it, and is about to repay me with the basest 
ingratitude. There are some of the privileges properly 
belonging to you other boys, of which I have been obliged 
to deprive you, simply because this troublesome boy 
abused his liberties. But if none of you large boys, 
whose business it is to right such things, will leave your 
selfish pursuits for a short time to bring him to a sense of 
his duties, I myself will take him in hand and give him 
such a thrashing as will not only astonish this school, but 
all the other schools in the universe," and Miss Columbia's 
eyes flashed in a manner that showed that she meant to be 
as good as her word. The work of the school then went 
on as usual, but at recess our dreamer sought out Miss 
Columbia, who was thoughtfully pacing up and down the 
empty school-room, and told her his vision of the preced- 
ing night, and that, when she made the remarks about the 



"^'il 




Flight of the Jesuit. 



34 



MISS COLUMBIA'S PUBLIC SCHOOL; 



Bible, it seemed to confirm it, and made him fear that it 
was prophetic. 

Miss Columbia listened to him in silence, and when he 
had told her all, she said : 

"Come, mj boy, let us walk around the plaj-ground 
quietly. I have something to show you " — and they passed 
out by a side door, so as not to attract the attention of the 
other boys, or disturb their play — when Miss Columbia 
suddenly exclaimed, "Ah, yes, there he is again. See him !" 




The Foundation. 



OR, WILL IT BLOW OVER? 35 

as a black figure darted out slyly from among the boys, crept 
stealtbily round tbrougb an alley-way and disappeared. 

Our dreamer, looking in the direction indicated by her 
gaze, recognized the form of the Jesuit of his dream. 

It seemed to give Miss Columbia no surprise, as she had 
often come upon him in the same manner before. They 
walked on until they came near the spot which the Jesuit 
had just left, when Miss Columbia, examining the foun- 
dation of the building, said with a sigh, " Yes, yes ; I see he 
has been at it again — and this is the thing that I wish to 
call your attention to. Do you see that some of the foun- 
dation stones have been removed, and carried off; only a 
little at a time has disappeared, not enough to excite re- 
mark, but still by degrees enough has been taken away to 
leave a wide gap, and if this thing is allowed to continue, 
enough will soon be gone to make the building shaky and 
insecure, and the whole edifice will eventually be under- 
mined. One of the largest pieces was carried off quite 
recently, but it was done in such a bold and defiant manner 
that it drew the attention of some of the larger boys, who, 
without saying anything to me, got some planks and 
beams from the platform erected for the meeting lately 
held to indorse the Union of the Italian school, which may 
fill up the gap temporarily. But we cannot go on bolster- 
ing up our school in this way. If we allow much more of 
the foundation to be abstracted, the school must stop." 

Our boy stood aghast ; he had not dared to own to him- 



36 



MISS COLUMBIA'S PUBLIC SCHOOL; 



self before that this evil influence had become so active. 
He had often been made to feel its power, but he had tried 
to disguise the truth and deceive himself, by calling the 
evil by another name. 

Miss Columbia watches him closely, and tries to discover 
what effect this revelation has upon him, but he gives no 
outward sign as yet, and she says, 

" Come, let us retm^n to the school-room. I have some- 
thing else to show you there," and they retrace their 
steps. 

Just as they are about to re-enter the school-room, they 
both perceive the sly little Irish boy in the very act of 
seizing the Bible and throwing it out of the window. At 




" Put that Bible back !' 



OR, WILL IT BLOW OVER? 37 

the sight of this dastardly deed, the little spark of patriot- 
ism left in our ISTorthern boy flames up ; he forgets his 
money-making and his all-engrossing private affairs for a 
few minutes ; his cold exterior melts away ; he loses his 
marvelous powers of self-control ; he rushes at the Irish 
boy, seizes him by the throat and cries out imperiously, 
" Put that Bible back !" 

The Irish boy cowers beneath the flashing eyes of his 
school-fellow, replaces the book, and steals away, muttering 
to himself, "I'll be even with you yet. My time is soon 
coming." 

Miss Columbia nods approvingly at her companion, and 
says, " Well done ; I may have hopes of you yet." "l!^ow," 
she continues, " I want you to come here and look at these 
books, and see how they also have been tampered with. 
You remember the nice arithmetic we used to have ; that 
has been removed, and one put in its place by Slippery 
Dick, and you know well enough how he keeps accounts. 
We now have Book-keeping by Jim, Jr., and Erie Gould, 
Geography and Surveying by the Boss, Widening and 
Straightening by his partner Peter Bee, Practical Educa- 
tion by a man whose Sands of life have nearly run out, 
Grammar by Teddy O'Flannigan (Kew York Alderman), 
Gymnastics by Pokey Hall, Theology by Father O'Bigotry, 
and so on through the whole list of studies. 

" ]^ow, you know books like these are not the kind of 
material with which to educate the rising generation of this 



88 



MISS COLUMBIA'S PUBLIC SCHOOL; 







A CHANGE OF TEXT-BOOKS. 



OR, WILL IT BLOW OVER? 39 

school. You could not even maintain the standard of in- 
telligence at its present point, to say nothing of advancing 
as you should. You cannot but already feel the baleful 
influence of the pov^erful cliques and '' rings " which have 
been formed of late within the school ; they levy the most 
unmerciful tolls upon you for every conceivable pretext, 
and you know that they exert a most deadening influence 
on many of your enterprising pursuits ; they have become so 
arrogant and exacting that, in order to be permitted to carry 
on your ordinary avocations, you are obliged to truckle to 
them, which is the most degrading kind of slavery, as it 
confuses your standard of right and wrong, and you lose 
your self-respect. You grow so accustomed to seeing 
virtue punished and vice rewarded that you will soon come 
to regard it as the natural and proper order of things." 

The boy listened with grave attention, and when Miss 
Columbia ceased speaking, he said, " Yes, I see what you 
mean now. I shall speak to the other boys, and see if we 
can't decide on some plan to get us out of these ugly 
snarls." 

Miss Columbia answered with a sigh, '^ You can try it ; 
but now do you understand why I wished you to be rec- 
onciled to your Southern brother more than ever ? Do 
you not see that while you two, the original pupils of my 
school, are contending with each other, those who have 
only come among us lately will usurp all your rights, and, 



40 



MISS COLUMBIA'S PUBLIC SCHOOL; 




" T'oud better leave. There's not room for both.^ 

in fact, it will only be the story of the camel over again, 
and you know such a inouupoly as that would be intoler- 
able to both of you. Have you held out your hand to him 
yet ?" 

The boy here looked abashed, and said, " No, I have not ; 
he has done things quite recently that fairly make my blood 
boil I " 

Here the boys came into school again and took their 
seats, and lessons went on as usual. When the school was 
dismissed, and while the boys were still lingering about 



OR, WILL IT BLOW OVER? 41 

the plaj-ground, our JSTorthern boy went up to the Irish 
boy and said to him : 

'•Ain't you going to apologize to Miss Columbia for 
what you did to-day ? Don't you know this is her school, 
and that you owe it to her to do so ?" 

'' Apologize to a heretic is it ?" inquired the Irish boy, 
with a sneer. 

" Why not ? It is through her that you enjoy all your 
privileges, and she has always been too kind to you. Were 

you not warmed at her hearth-stone ?" 
" Let her go to blazes. And I'll be 
after breaking your mug, too, some of 
these nights ; it's only a matter of time. 
And then, when I've thrashed you, I'll 
put a head on these same smart Yan- 
kees who are now making a tool of me 
-T^^ because of my strength. I know what 
The Ribbonman. I'm about, and ain't such a big fool as 

they think. Sure, this is our promised land, and we're 
bound to have it, and if you don't like it, sure you can lave it. 
You haven't had any time to take care of it yourself, so 
I'll do it for you. The Pope himself is going to sit in Miss 
Columbia's chair, and she can be afther looking for an- 
other place." 

The Northern boy, dismayed and disgusted, turned 
away, and, as he walked on, he encountered another Irish 
boy who wore a yellow ribbon. Knowing that there is 




42 



MISS COLUMBIA'S PUBLIC SCHOOL; 




the deepest antagonism between him and the boy he had 
just left, he appealed to him, and asked him if he would 
be on his side in case of a row with the other one. He 
received a sympathetic answer, but he was reminded 
by the boy with the yellow ribbon that he, too, had a 
bone to pick with him. 

"You remember," said he, "one 
day not very long ago, when that 
boy over there and his comrades, set 
upon us like a pack of wolves, while 
we were harmlessly and decorously 
enjoying ourselves on a certain holi- 
day of ours ? You call this a school 
of freedom for all, and yet they 
rangeman. slaughtered US right and left, and you 

never dared lift a hand or say a word against it. We 
ourselves paid them back in their own coin, and de- 
fended ourselves as well as we were able. Then they 
threatened us that we dared not march through the 
grounds again ; they would not allow it ; they would 
stand ready at every turn with shillalahs and firearms 
and kill us and stone us as we went. 

" But not being made of cowardly stuff, we intended to 
celebrate our next holiday as usual, when you came 
whining to us not to break the peace. 

" We weren't going to break the peace ; we were simply 
going to have the same rights and privileges as the rest 



OR, WILL IT BLOW OVER? 



43 



of the boys, especially he, who blockades the whole school- 
ground on his holiday, and woe to him who dares cross 
his path. He may do all this with impunity and you 




" Clear the streets." 

never raise your voice against him. Indeed, you are so 
overawed by this gigantic bully that a day will soon come 
when you will even be afraid to cross the grounds with 
your own flag. You ought to have protected me on my 
holiday, and if you couldn't have done it yourself, you 
should have appealed to Miss Columbia to call out the 
army and navy boys to do it. It is high time for you 
to show that the rest of the boys have rights which even 
the Irish Catholic boy is bound to respect in this school 
of liberty and equality. But, my boy, when the crisis 
comes, and you get your eyes ^\ride open and see things as 



u 



MISS COLUMBIA'S PUBLIC SCHOOL; 



they are, and call them by their right names, I'm your 
man and there's my hand on it," and the warm-hearted 
Irish boy grasped him heartily by the hand. 

Our boy, a little comforted, walked on to the group of 
Tammany boys, who were standing together laughing and 
talking. The spot where they stood was noticeable for 
its brilliancy, owing to the glitter and flash of the enor- 
mous diamonds which they all wore. Some were as big 
as your fist, others as big as your head, and some of the 
boys seemed to be completely encrusted with them. As he 
approached them they looked at him defiantly, and when 
he broached his subject to them, they received his re- 
marks with shouts of derisive laughter, and said, *' Well, 




" What are you going to do about it ? 

what are you going to do about it?" whereupon one of 



OR, WILL IT BLOW OVER? 45 

them stepped up to liim and slipped a couple of dollars 
into his hand, saying, " There, there, shut up and be off." 
But he dropped their filthy money as if he had been 
stung, whereat one of them cried out, " Oh, give him 
some more I That ain't his price." 

Another boy, who was standing near by eating an 
orange, rushed up and seized the money and pocketed it 
in the boldest manner. At this the Tammany boys all 
chuckled triumphantly, and exclaimed : 

'' That's a cheap orange ; now what's your price ?" 
He made no reply, but walked back, with a sickening 
sense of humiliation and defeat, as he began to realize 
how exultant and secure this " ring " of Tammany boys 
had grown to be. One thing he vowed inwardly — that 
none of them should ever be head boy in school, if they 
tried ever so hard. 

iTow he heard the noise of several trumpets, sounded by 
various boys around the grounds, and the Tammany boys 
seemed to be greatly discomfited and annoyed thereby. 
The tunes seemed obnoxious to them, and they were so 
loud. Their ringleader suggested throwing the trumpet- 
ers some pennies, and the others hastened to carry out 
this direction, which appeared to have the desired effect 
upon some of them instantly, as they immediately changed 
the tune and played very softly ; but others were proof 
against such allurements, and continued to play the 
same tune just as loudly and boldly as before, and the 



46 



MISS COLUMBIA'S PUBLIC SCHOOL; 



Tammany boys tried to resume their customary com- 
posure and effrontery in spite of them. 

Our boy had not the heart to discuss his subject further, 
so he went sadly to his own room. 




Tax. 



During his absence he found that another layer of tacks 
had been laid on all his furniture. Everything had been 
crowded with tacks pretty thickly before, here and in 
school, and also on the grounds ; but these last were larger 
and more objectionable than any heretofore, which de- 
prived him of all comfort, and made his burdens well-nigh 
intolerable. 

He knew well enough that this last aggravation was 
the work of the Tammany boys, and that it was upon the 
proceeds of this that they depended for their big diamonds 
and other luxuries, including the favor and benediction of 
the Roman Catholic Church — a stupendously expensive 



OR, WILL IT BLOW OVER 



47 



luxury, but one that always insured them the good- will of 
the Irish boy, on whom they relied to reinstate them in 
power every term. And the Irish boy's strength had never 
failed to retain the best places for his own chosen. 

The room grows dark, and our boy begins to feel a little 
drowsy, when his attention is aroused by a gentle tapping 
at his door, which he opens, and beholds the burly form of 
Hans, his German friend and comrade, and, moreover, one 
of the quietest, steadiest, and most orderly boys in school. 




A friend in need, and a friend, indeed ! 



" Good evening, Hans ; come in and sit down. I'm 
real glad to see you, by Jove ! Your the very fellow to 
help us now." 

As Hans came in and seated himself, our boy was aston- 
ished at his physique, and thought that he must be more 



48 MISS COLUMBIA'S PUBLIC SCHOOL, 

powerful than the Irish boy, as he seemed to have grown 
so much of late. 

" Well, Hans," he said, ^' I congratulate you upon the 
splendid conquest that your head boy, William, has gained 
for himself in Dame Europa's school. He has my best 
wishes, and I am sure he deserves them." 




The fight in Dame Europa's School. 

" Yes," said Hans, " every boy in school says the same 
thing to me, except that discontented, envious Irish boy, 
who always cries, ' Hurrah for the French I' " 

" So you dislike him, too, do you ? " 

" Yes, I do that," said Hans emphatically. " I can't sub- 
mit to Irish rule and love him. Don't you think that I 
know the power he has been gaining for himself so stealthi- 
ly in Miss Columbia's school ? " 

" Well, then, Hans, why don't you come and help me 
keep him in his place ? You are always so mum 
in all school matters that it is hard to tell which side 
you are on. You avail yourself of all our privileges, 
but keep perfect silence, and appear to take no in- 
terest in what is passing. If you had joined your voice 



OR, WILL IT BLOW OYER? 



49 



to mine before, this evil could never have grown so threat-, 
ening." 

" Ah ! yes, that is all very nice, but why don't you go to 
him for help if you want any? You show him partiality in 
everything else. Why is it that, when any Irish boy who 
has been in this school goes over to Dame Europa's, and 
kicks up a row with Johnny Bull, and gets arrested, as he 
deserves, for his misconduct, there are always plenty of 
Miss Columbia's boys ready to get up in school and make 




Unbottled. 



buncombe speeches about ^ the American incarcerated in 
Johnny Bull's Bastile.' Then, when Johnny Bull sees how 
dearly he is beloved liere, he sends him back again, 
and all parties run to meet him, and receive him with 



50 



MISS COLUMBIA'S PUBLIC SCHOOL; 




THE WELCOME TO NEW CORK. 



OR, WILL IT BLOW OVER? 61 

honors, and shake his hands. It is just a big bid for his 
voice next term, and you know it, but you never got his 
support yet, and you never will. 

" Why is it that when some of my brothers, who had 
joined the school here, went over to Dame Europa's school 
on a visit, and were made to join the army boys there 
against their will, and applied to this school for protection, 
there was not a single voice heard here on their behalf? 
I waited and waited to hear some response, but in vain." 

His listener answered with a groan : " Yes, that is too 
true, Hans." 

" Then, again," resumed Hans, " see how my privileges 
are curtailed — for no offense of my own, either. I come 
here, and conform to all the rules of the school. I 
bring the same social habits that I have always been al- 
lowed in Dame Europa's school, where the rules are much 
more strict than here. I am allowed, for awhile, to retain 
the same rights that I have been accustomed to at home. 




Quiet enjoyment. 



62 



MISS COLUMBIA'S PUBLIC SCHOOL; 



One of them is, after I have faithfully done my week's hard 
work, to sit in my garden on Sunday, smoke my pipe, sip 
my glass of lager, and enjoy the music. I do this in the 
company of my parents and my brothers and sisters. It is 
a harmless and innocent enough amusement, and interferes 
with no one. 

" But the Irish boy opposite gulps down whisky by the 
quart, gets raving drunk, murders somebody, and then 
the cry is raised, Monday morning, ' The Dutch hoy must 
give up his lager ^ because the Irish boy breaks the peace 
on the Sabbath day.' Then your boys make another rule, 
and I am deprived of my liberty, because the Irish boy 
abuses his. Your own boys all use their voices against me, 
because they drink all they want during the week, and 
even in school hours they whisper to one another, ' Come, 
let's take a drink,' and then they slip out, and go to the bar- 




Nipping. 



room round the coiner ; and you know that many a boy 
gets so muddled over his book-keeping in the afternoon 
that he often sees double, and puts down noughts where 



OR, WILL IT BLOW OVER? 53 

they don't belong. Then he stalks solemnly to church, 
with a sanctimonious face, on Sunday, looking too good 
ever to taste a drop of liquor, or soil a floor with tobacco- 
juice, and passes us, contemptuously exclaiming : ' Oh ! 




" Oh ! those infidel Dutch boys ! " 

those infidel Dutch boys.' The white-headed boy who 
makes the greatest outcry against my Sunday, the one who 
has the loudest trumpet, exclaims through it that we 
Dutch boys love our lager better than we do Miss Colum- 
bia or her school ; but I believe he would rather see the 
whole school go to smash than let us drink lager on Sun- 
day. If that is his allegiance to Miss Columbia, it don't 
amount to much. You appeal to me to side with you, but 
are you fair to me ? Then, again, justice is a mere farce 
in this section. What chance has a decent boy to get 
his rights here? Your Tammany bench has grown so rot- 
ten and so foully decayed that a decent boy can't sit on 
it any more, and yet you go on grinding out your dollars, 
and paying no more attention to it than if it was a matter 
of no moment to you." 



64 MISS COLUMBIA'S PUBLIC SCHOOL; 

"Well, as to money-making, friend Hans, I don't see bnt 
what we row in the same boat." 

Hans here winked knowingly, and replied : '' Yes, that 
is all right — but we don't sell body and soul to an impe- 
rial ring and call it smartness. ISTow, how can we give 
you the weight of our voice in school matters unless we 
are assured of enjoying our national privilege ? We have 
given you ample proof that we will not misuse it, as you 
must have seen already." 

The Northern boy chafed somewhat impatiently under 
Hans' lengthy harangue, but still was glad to have heard 
him speak his mind so freely. 

Hans now, having relieved his mind, rose to depart, 
when the boys shook hands heartily, and both felt that 
they should understand each other better in future. 

Our boy flings himself upon his bed, and falls asleep, 
and again the contending feelings in his mind cause him 
uneasy dreams. 

He dreams of Saint Bartholomew's massacre — that, as 
history repeats itself, so he was on the point of witnessing 
a repetition of that horrible slaughter. He thought the 
scene was the school, and that the actors in it were the 
Greeks whose faces he was so familiar with every day. 

At first, all was panic, confusion, and precipitate flight, 
but Miss Columbia, quickly recovering her self-possession, 
sounded the alarm, and gave him the signal to advance. 
He stepped forward, and the boys all rallied around him 



OR, WILL IT BLOW OVER? 



55 



rapidly. At his right hand was his Southern brother. 




Their eyes met, their hands clasped in an iron grip, and 
the Puritan and the Huguenot forgot their mutual griev- 
ances, and were strong brothers in arms, as of old, against 
one common enemy. 

Both seized the dear old flag, and waving it proudly 
aloft, each pledged himself to be forever faithful to it. 

There was Hans ; there was the Irish Orange boy and 
many liberal Catholics ; there was the Jew ; there were the 
Protestants of all nationalities ; there were all the heretics 
and infidels, and even the heathen Chinee, on his side. 

Then the Tammany boys, thinking these would probably 



56 



MISS COLUMBIA'S PUBLIC SCHOOii; 



be yictorions, wished to join them also, but the others 
pushed them off indignantly, and cried out, " Go fight with 




" This is not your fortey 

your own chosen scum ; we want no more traitors in our 
camp." 

Then ensued a fearful struggle, but it was short and de- 
cisive. The boys fought like lions for the liberty which 
they were determined not to resign, and the pent-up wrath 




Victory. 



OR, WILL IT BLOW OVER? 



57 




THE SURRENDER OF THE HESSIANS. 



68 



MISS COLUMBIA'S PUBLIC SCHOOL; 



of years burst fortli witli a fury which, astonished them- 
selves. Then, when the struggle was over, and the victors 
had quietly settled back to their old pursuits (with this 
difference, that Puritan and Huguenot pursue their studies 
seated affectionately side by side). Dame Europa sends to 
congratulate Miss Columbia on having rid herself of the 
danger which menaced her, and says that she has a sugges- 
tion to make. 




The compact. 



OR, WILL IT BLOW OVER? 



59 



She proposes to give up the Isle of Erin to the exclusive 
use of the Greeks, upon which they may establish a Repub- 
lic founded on their own ideas of perfect freedom and lib- 
erty, she never having been able to satisfy their demands 
in that respect, and Miss Columbia's school, also, having 
fallen far short of their ideal. She j)roposes to collect them 




Universal Thanksgiving Day. 



all from the four quarters of the globe, where, she has no 
doubt, they will be most willingly given up, and to have them 
all transported to the Isle of Erin ; furnish them with all their 
demands, arms, ammunition, rum, whisky, etc. ; but no 
vessels of any kind are to be allowed, as she wishes none to 



60 



MISS COLUMBIA'S PUBLIC SCHOOL; 




Ireland blockaded. 



leave the island, which is to be 
guarded by a large fleet, in order to 
secure to the inhabitants the uninter- 
rupted enjoyment of peace and happi- 
ness, which will reign supreme. 
This treaty was signed by Dame Europa and Miss Colum- 
bia, and carried out with scrupulous fidelity. 

Ten years seemed to elapse, and everything appeared to 
be very quiet and peaceful on the Isle of Erin, when the 
signers of the treaty became exceedingly curious to ascer- 
tain the result of their experiment, and determined to visit 
it. They approached the coast with great caution, so as 
not to disturb any innocent enjoyment, but not a sound 
broke the stillness ; it was peace itself. 

Not a creature is in sight. They come nearer ; they land ; 
everything seems to be growing most luxuriantly, but 
where are the Greeks ? 




Where are the Greeks? 



They then scoured the island, but could not find a soul. 
Dame Europa and Miss Columbia went in different direc- 



OR, WILL IT BLOW OVER? 



61 



tions, and finally met at the starting-point, but found not a 
living thing, and both exclaimed in a chorus of thanksgiv- 




Peace at last. 



ing, " Thank Heaven ! they have had their liberty, and now 
they rest in peace !" 

He awoke feeling as if a great weight had been lifted 
from him, but after all it was only a dream, and he had the 
full measure of his difficulties still to contend against. 



62 



MISS COLUMBIA'S PUBLIC SCHOOL; 




After school was over tliat day, our Northern boy en- 
countered the Orange boy on the grounds, who, stepping up 
to him, inquires if he remembers that the time is rapidly 
approaching for his annual celebration, and whether he 
thinks that Pat, the Hibernian, really means to put into 
execution the threats he has j^ronounced against him. 
Our boy replied that he did not apprehend any trouble at 
all, and that he saw no reason why he should not celebrate 
his particular holiday as well as any other sect or nation- 
ality, who are all allowed the privilege. 

" As long," he continued, " as there is no rule against 
such demonstrations, your claim to avail yourself of the same 
rights as others cannot be disputed, although, I must say, for 
my own part, I would much rather see you all more Ameri- 
can in feeling, and leave your foreign celebrations on the 
other side of the water." 

" We are not really so much interested in celebrating the 
anniversary," replied the Orange boy, ^' were it not for the 



OR WILL IT BLOW OVER? 



63 




:/fi//^ 



Getting ready for the Twelfth. 



brutal treatment we received last year, the threats that 
^have heen constantly uttered against us since, and the prin- 
ciple of right and wrong that is involved. Am I alone to 
be singled out for exclusion from your republican liberty 
and freedom for no fault of my own whatever ?" 

" Certainly not," said our boy ; and here they parted, 
and he thought no more of the subject. 

As the time aj^proached, however, for the Orange cele- 
bration, the air grew dark with threatening rumors. 

Pat, the Hibernian, seemed to b^ working himself up to 



u 



MISS COLUMBIA'S PUBLIC SCHOOL; 



p, liigli 2)itcli of excitement about the matter, even to tear- 
ing off orange-colored ribbons from the persons of those en- 
tirely uninterested in his quarrels, although he saw fit to 
;fl.aunt his own " wearing of the green " before every eye, 
whether offensive or not. Whether he was egged on by his 
Jesuitical advisers, to whom obedience was, with him, a duty 
of much greater consequence than loyalty to Miss Colum- 
bia, or whether his fiery imagination was inflamed by the 
exciting tunes that were played by his own special trumpet- 



/f!lSH 




The Irish Blower. 



ers, did not appear openly, but many conjectures were 
started as to whether his opposition had a leader. 

His feelings soon found expression in a meeting held by the 



OR, WILL IT BLOW OVER? 



65 










The Hibernian meeting. 



Hibernians, who gave warning of tlie most bloodthirsty 
intentions if the Orange celebration was allowed to take 
place, and, moreover, of the withdrawal of their voice from 
the party which they had hitherto supported. 

The Jesuits publicly desired their flocks to desist from 
violence if, as they said, " this insulting demonstration is 
persisted in," which must have appeared to Pat something 
like setting two dogs to fight each other, and then pulling 
one gently back by the tail. 

Then, on the morning before the day of the celebration, 
the head boy of the Tammany section, Oakey Pokey, posted 
up a proclamation prohibiting the Orange procession. 



66 



MISS COLUMBIA'S PUBLIC SCHOOL; 




" DON'T." 



OR, WILL IT BLOW OVER? 



67 



III III! III! 



OFF(CE OF TBS tur£«mTMDcr(T Bf 
/; OF POLICE ' 

N.r.juLr. |0'/J7/H 
GE^lLR^L ORDtfv 




Bill Poster. 



When the boys saw this posted around, their indignation 
was very great. Miss Columbia appeared to share this feel- 
ing with them, but controlled herself and said nothing, as it 
was from the boys themselves that a movement must come. 

While these angry emotions were in full force, a procla- 
mation was issued by the boy in charge of the adjoining 
section, giving the Orange boy full liberty to parade, and 
promising him protection to the fullest extent of his power. 
This decision our loyal boys applauded so loudly that the 
Tammany boys began to see that they had made a mis- 
take, and to fear that the tide of public feeling was turn- 
ing so strongly against them, that, in the contest approach- 
ing, their own dazzling careers would be brought to an un- 
timely end. 

They seem to have been used to considering this section 



68 MISS COLUMBIA'S PUBLIC SCHOOL; 

their own and Pat's for so long, to rule just as they liked, 
that they believed there was really no end to the endu- 
rance of the honest boys. 

They had hitherto calculated on their own irresistible 
strength, with their fingers always pilfering the public 
treasury, and with the giant force of the Irish boy to back 
them. They did not think this last bold stroke of theirs 
would be the spark to light the long dormant fire of 
American patriotism. 

American patience and toleration is long-suffering indeed, 
but a turning-point comes at last. This was not like fight- 
ing among brothers, as was the case in that great uprising 
ten years before. This was an Irish invasion, led by a few 




The Invasion, led by American Traitors. 

corrupt American traitors and demagogues. This was 
crushing the serpent, warmed at the hearthstone, who 
turns and stings its benefactor. This was the most bigoted 
member of one sect interfering with the rights of the State 
and setting its rules at defiance. 

These sentiments were freely expressed all over the 
school, and the most intense indignation and contempt was 
manifested for the cowards who thought fit to surrender so 



OR, WILL IT BLOW OVER? 



69 



basely to the mob, no matter bow strong it might be. The 
leaders of the Tammany section were denounced in the 
strongest terms, even by those who had hitherto followed 
their lead blindly. 




Startled. 



Then, at the eleventh hour, the Tammany boys sent for 
Johnny T., one of their members, whose connection with 
them, they thought, threw a halo of respectability over the 
whole gang. He, innocent that he was, " was only that 
moment apprised of the actual state of affairs," and had 
never dreamed of such a thing as mischief brewing,, es- 
pecially among his own constituents ! 

He was enlightened, however, in words so urgent, that ho 
felt that further vacillation would not answer, so he rapidly 
betook himself to the threatened scene of violence, issued 
a counter-proclamation, when it was too late for more 
than a handful of Orange boys to assemble, allowing them 



70 



MISS COLUMBIA'S PUBLIC SCHOOL; 




-:^<:^y^ 



Halfman and Staff. 



the right to parade, calling at the same time upon the 
members of the police and militia to keep the peace, thus 
making the fact j^lain enough that the Tammany leaders 
themselves were trembling before their own chosen. 




" Who's Boss?" 



The pliant tools, whose ignorance and credulity they had 
turned to such profitable account for so long, were at length 
becoming too sharp for them. 



OR, WILL IT BLOW OVER? 71 

All that night, active preparations went on among the 
police and the militia boys ; they were determined that, 
let the morrow bring what it might, it should find them 
ready. Among them there was perfect unanimity. All 
seemed to feel that the time had now come to assert them- 
selves, and end this degrading servility to a lawless mob 
and its dishonest leaders. 

The eventful day came, and it was noticed that most of 
the Tammany boys made themselves very scarce, doubt- 
less waiting for the whole thing to " blow over." Many of 
them left that section, deeming it best for their personal 
safety; and those that remained, with happy instinct, 
sought shelter at police headquarters. 

The militia turned out at the appointed hour, and many 
of them, as they passed by the great commander-in-chief, 
Johnny T., inwardly cursed him in their hearts for the 
bloody work they now had to perform ; for it was through 
him and his colleagues that the Irish mob had grown so 
strong and defiant ; and now that their daring was about 
to assume a violent form, he coolly appealed to the militia 
and police for protection. 

The handful of Orange boys who had been notified in 
time that the parade was to be allowed now formed, and 
the police and militia formed around them. The proces- 
sion now began to move — they marched to the tune of the 
"Star-Spangled Banner." They did not even attempt to 
play the so-called insulting, air of " Croppies, lie down," 



n 



MISS COLUMBIA'S PUBLIC SCHOOL; 



which every Irish Catholic boy considers sufficient provoca- 
tion for raising a row ; but perhaps this national American 
air was equally offensive and heretical, for, as it was, the 
fast-increasing mob commenced the assault. Threatening 
menaces were heard from them, some exclaiming, '' Ah ! 
see the British soldiers ! " as if that were the most stinging 
taunt. Then a perfect storm of missiles assailed them, and 
shots were fired from every direction. Some of our boys 
fell, and then our brave militia returned the fire, and many 
a Croppie lay down never to rise again. 







'' Croppies, lie down." 



The mob began to see that the militia was really in 
earnest, and that blank cartridges were not the order of 
the day this time. 

This startling revelation acted upon them like magic, 
and the procession was allowed to go on its way with no 
further disorder among the mob than the police themselves 
were able to deal with, wliich they did with a courage and 



OK, AYILL IT BLOW OVER^ 



13 




THE LATE UNPLE 



iASANTNESS. (Twelfth of July.) 



74 



MISS COLUMBIA'S PUBLIC SCHOOL; 



bravery that made the whole school resound with their 
praise. 

The i^rocession reached its destination, and was quietly 
dismissed, and that section of the school never spent a more 
peaceful night than the one which gave place to this tur- 
bulent day. 

'Next morning, when the school was assembled. Miss Co- 
lumbia expressed her approbation in the warmest terms of 
the prompt manner in which the Irish mob had been dealt 
with, and of the short time in which order had been re- 
stored, in spite of the usurpers' strength. Now the odium 
of public opinion began to fall with crushing weight upon 
the Tammany leaders. The Eleventh-Hour Johnny T., as 




Between two fires. 



OR, WILL IT BLOW OVER? 



75 



he was now called, found himself between two fires ; he was 
condemned by both parties. The loyal boys were indig- 
nant at his dalliance with so great an evil, and his own 
supporters were enraged at his daring to try to preserve the 
peace against their will, and he caught it all round, as 
miserable pretenders generally do at last. 

11^ JULY 





As to Oakey Po- 
key, he was lauded 
to the skies by the 
low mob, and the 
"Know-Nothing" 
of old times now be- 
came a great Irish 
patriot ! What next ? 

The Irish boys 
now held many in- 
dignation meetings, 
protesting again s't 
Johnny T. Ilalfman, 
calling him a Dutch 
butcher, and vowed 
that when they 




I'/.i 







Up like a rocket. 



Down like the stick. 



76 



MISS COLUMBIA'S PUBLIC SCHOOL; 



pledged tliemselves to give liim their support, they were 
assured that everything obnoxious to them should be 
abolished, and that his recent conduct was a violation of 
his trust, and that he ought, consequently, to be swept out 
of his place and power. 

At some of these meetings they proposed to form them- 
selves into invincible organizations, so that they might 
carry all before them with irresistible force next time they 
saw fit to do so. 

It became evident, however, that the time was hardly 
ripe yet for further demonstration, from the quietness 
of the Jesuits and from the subdued tunes which some 
of the Catholic trumpets now played. 




" Left blooming alone." 



OR, WILL IT BLOW OVER? 



77 



Thus Croppie was left for awhile, in the midst of his 
wild talk, without any leadership ; the Tammany boys 
were shy of him temporarily, and the Jesuit kept pru- 
dently in the background. The Tammany boys, although 
their bravado seemed to have no limit hitherto, had been 
"shaking in their shoes ever since the riot; for, in addition to 
the disgrace which that brought upon them, one of the 




The Times (not) out of joint. 

boldest boys in the section had been exposing some of 
their secret accounts, which publicly revealed the enor- 



78 



MISS COLUMBIA'S PUBLIC SCHOOL; 



mous frauds which they had perpetrated for some time 
past, and showed the honest boys but too plainly where 
layer after layer of the gigantic tacks had come from, 
which had aggravated them so sorely, and of late had 
grown unendurable. The rumors of the meetings and the 
threats of vengeance pronounced there reached Miss Co- 
lumbia, and one morning she thus addressed the school : 

" Many of the boys have come to me since the outbreak 
of the 12th of July, and besought me to use my influence 
to prevent this thing from becoming a religious dispute. 




" Got enough ?" 



OR, WILL IT BLOW OVER? 79 

Now, I ask you, who is it that insists upon making it so ? 
Who is it that says that, ' while the State has rights, she 
has them only in virtue and by permission of the superior 
authority, which can only be expressed through the Church V 
Who is it that denies the right of any one to the ballot 
except in ' subordination to the Church V Who is it that 
declares that the ' Catholic, armed with his vote, is the 
champion of law, order, faith and morality ? ' Who is it 
that states that ' every Catholic is bound to acknowledge 
himself, as a voting citizen, a passive instrument in the hands 
of the Koman hierarchy, and is bound to use his suffrage 
power in such a way as may most speedily put the educa- 
tion of the whole people within the direct control of the 
hierarchy, since to falter in meeting this demand is disloyalty 
to God, because it is treason against the divine sovereignty 
of the Church ? ' Who is it that says, ' Let the public 
school go to the devil, where it came from ? ' Can we shut 
our eyes to the meaning of such sentiments ? 'No ! we 
dare not ; we must rouse ourselves from our lethargy, we 
must meet our antagonist with his own weapons, and he 
must learn to keep his religion to himself, as the rest of us 
do. We must look this evil in the face, and not call it by 
any other name, or shirk it in any way. If they persist in 
crying, *Down with black Protestantism !' we must also in- 
scribe upon our banners, ' Anti-Irish-P(?^^^^*(?(Z^Koman- 
Catholic-Party.' 

" They give the weight of all their power as Catholics, and 
we must counteract it as anti-Catholics. Look back into 



80 



MISS COLUMBIA'S PUBLIC SCHOOL; 



history. What has been the result in every country where 
the Catholic Church has had complete sway ? Don't let us 
have a repetition of that here ! 

'' We acknowledge that among liberal Catholics there are 
many worthy and estimable ones, who never dream of 
intruding their religion into state afiairs, but who. are able 
to consider matters of government without reference to 
Church. For such as those we have only feelings of fra- 




Roused at last. 



OR, WILL IT BLOW -OVER? 



81 



temal fellowship, but for those turbulent bigots, who are 
continually dragging their Church into national affairs, 
there is no course left us but to compel them to conform to 
our rules, or to go back where they came from. It is not 
their country, as they seem to think ; it belongs equally to 
all of us. All are welcome, irrespective of creed, color, or 
nationality, and all have equal rights. 

" ]N"ow, boys,^' she continued, " argument will never con^ 




The uprising. 



82 



MISS COLUMBIA'S PUBLIC SCHOOL. 



\dnce our would-be usurper ; and all that talking can do, 
with regard to our difficulties, has been done. "We must 
have no more beating about the bush ; and the sooner he 
understands his relation to us and to our school, the better. 
One thing is certain, the longer he puts it off, the 
worse it will be. Then, bojs, I say, rally round the flag ; 
be fearless, just, and upright, and, above all, be united, and 
you are sure of victory !" 

And the air was rent with cheer upon cheer, and the en- 
thusiasm was so prolonged and hearty, that Miss Columbia 
felt assured that " the American idea would never have to 
give way to the Catholic idea." 




The result. 

" EEITDEE TJITTO CJESAR THE THIKGS THAT 
AEE CESAR'S, AND TO GOD THE THINGS 
THAT ARE GOD'S."— Ma^k 12 : 17. 



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